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CmMM, 1774 



THE 



New Hampshire Covenant 

OE 1 774 



A I'APER READ BEFORE THE NEW HAMPSHIRE HISTORICAL SOCIET\' 
APRIL 8, 1903, AND REPRINTED FRO.M THE GRANITE 
MONTHLY OF OCTOBER, 1903 



JOSEPH B. WALKER 



concord, n. h. 
The Rumford Printing Co., 

MCMIII 






/>,ijthor.. 
(Person). 



THE NEW HAMPSHIRE COVENANT OF 1774. 
By Joseph B. Walker. 




|MONG the papers of 
Judge Timothy Walker 
of Concord (b. 1737, d. 
1822) is one of ancient 
foolscap size, somewhat 
faded and time worn, endorsed in his 
handwriting, "Covenant, 1774." 
This "covenant," which is all printed 
from old-fashioned English type, ex- 
cept a short blank space ^ which is 
written the word "Concord," occu- 
pies about two thirds of the first page. 
Upon the remainder of this and upon 
the second, are the autographs of 
seventy- two substantial citizens of 
Concord, and of Hannah Osgood, 
better known as " Mother Osgood," 
the landlady of Concord's popular 
inn^ during the Revolutionary pe- 
riod. Fifty- two of these same per- 
sons, two years later, signed the As- 
sociation Test, and thereby exposed 
their estates to confiscation and their 
necks to the halter. 

What was the origin and purpose 
of this ancient document, now awak- 
ened from a sleep of three generations 
and introducing us to these Concord 
worthies of 1774? It bears no inter- 
nal date. Who sent it for adoption 
to Concord ? Were its provisions 
also adopted by the citizens of other 
New Hampshire towns? What, in 
short, was its ''' raison d"" etrc'" '^. To 
such questions its unexpected appear- 
ance gives rise. A careful perusal of 



'This stood near the south corner of Main and 
Depot streets. 



its contents, as here presented in fac- 
simile, will answer them in part : 

We the Subscribers, Inhabitants of the Town 
of Concord, having taken into our serious Con- 
sideration, the precarious State of the LIBER- 
TIES of NORTH-AMERICA, and more espe- 
ciallj' the present distressed Condition of our 
Sister Colony of Massachusetts-Bay, embar- 
rassed as it is by several Acts of the British Par- 
liament, tending to the entire Subversion of 
their natural and Charter Rights ; among which 
is the Act for blocking up the Hai boitr of 
BOSTON ; And being fully sensible of our in- 
dispensible Duty to lay hold on every Means in 
our Power to preserve and recover the much 
injured Constitution of our Country; and con- 
scious at the same Time of no Alternative be- 
tween the Horrors of Slavery, or the Carnage 
and Desolation of a civil War, but a Suspen- 
sion of all commercial Intercourse with the 
Island of Great-Britain, DO, in the Presence of 
GOD, solemnly and in good Faith, covenant 
and engage with each other. 

1. That from henceforth we will suspend all 
commercial Intercourse with the said Island of 
Great-Britain, until the Parliament shall cease 
to enact Laws imposing Taxes upon the Colo- 
nies, without their Consent, or until the pre- 
tended Right of Taxing is dropped. And 

2. That there may be less Temptation to 
others to continue in the said now dangerous 
Commerce ; and in order to promote Industry, 
Oeconomy, Arts and Manufactures among our- 
selves, which are of the last Importance to the 
Welfare and Well-being of a Community ; we 
do, in like Manner, solemnly covenant, that we 
will not buy, purchase or consume, or suffer 
any Person, by, for, or under us, to purchase, 
nor will we use in our Families in any Manner 
whatever, any Goods, Wares or Merchandise 
which shall arrive in America from Great-Bri- 
tain aforesaid, from and after the last Day of 
August next ensuing (except only such Articles 
as shall be judged absolutely necessary bj' the 
Majority of Signers hereof)— and as much as in 
us lies, to prevent our being interrupted and 
defeated in this only peaceable Measure en- 
tered into for the Recovery and Preservation of 
our Rights, and the Rights of our Brethren in 



THE NEW HAMPSHIRE COVENANT OF 1774 



W 



'E the Si'.bfcribcrs, Inhabitants of the Town of 
having taken into our fcrious Conlideration, the precarious State of the 
LIBERTIES of NORTH-AMERICA, and more cfpecially the prefent diareffcd 
Condition of our Sifter Colony of the Maffachufetts-Bay, embarraffcd as it is by 
fcvcral A<Ss of the Britifh Parliament, tending to the entire Subvcrfion of their na- 
tural and Charter Rights ; among which is the Jcl for blocking up the Harbour of 
BOSTON : And being fully fenfiblc of our indifpenfible Duty to lay hold oa 
every* Means in our Povycr to preferve and recover the much injured Conftiturioa 
of our Country ; and confcious at the fame Time cf no Alternative between the 
Horrors of Slavery, or the Carnage and Defolation of a civil War, but a Snfpenfion 
of all commercial Intercourle with the Ifland of Great-Britain, DO, in the Prefencc 
of CCXD, folemnJy and in good Faith^ cdvenant and engage with each other.' '-'^ 

1. That from henceforth we will fufpend all commercial Intercourfe with thff- 
faid Ifland of Great-Britain, until the Parliament Ihall ceafe to enaft Laws impofing 
Taxes upon the Colonies, without their Confent, or until the pretended Right of 
Taxing is dropped. And 

2. That there may be lefs Temptation to others to continue in the faid now 
dangerous Commerce ; and in order to promote Induftry, Oeconomy, Arts and 
Manufadlures among ourfclvcs, which are of the lail Importance to the Welfare 
and Well-being of a Community ; we do, in like Manner, folemnly covenant, 
that wc will not buy, purchafc or confumc, or fuffer any Pcrfon, by, for, or under us, 
to purchafe, nor will we ufc in our Families in any Manner whatever, any Goods, 
Wares or Mcrchandifc which fhall arrive in America from Great-Britain aforefaid, 
from and after the laft Day of Auguft next enfuing ( except only fuch Articles as 
fhall be judged abfolutcly ncceffary by the Majority of the Signers hereof )— and 
as much as in us lies, to prevent our bei-Rg-interrupted and defeated in thi?^ only 
peaceable Meafgre entered into for the Recovery and Prefervation of our Right?, 
and the Rights of our Brethren in our Sifter Colonics, We agree to break off all 
Trade and Commerce, with all Pcrfons, who prefering tlieir private Intereft tp 
the Salvation of their now almofl perifhing Country, who fhall ftill continue to im- 
port Goods from Great-Britain, or fhall purchafe of thofe who import after the 
faid laft Day of Auguft, until the aforefaid pretended Right of Taxing the Colo- 
nics fhall be given up or dropped. 

3. As a Refufal to come into any Agreement which promifcs Deliverance of our 
Country from the Calamities it now feels, and which, like a Torrent, are ruftiini; 
upon it with increafing Violence, .riuft, in our Opinion, evidence a Difpofition 
enimical to, or criminally negligent of the common Safety : — It is agreed, that all 
fuch ought to be confidered, and fhall by vs be efteemed, as Encouragers' of 'con- 
tumacious Importers. 

Laftly, We hereby further engagq, that w.e will iife every Method in our Powpr 
to encourage and promote the Produaion of Manufaftures among ourfclves, that 
this Covenant and Engagement may be as little detrimental toourlelves and Fellow 
Countrymen as poffible. 






jU.f^J^ aU;^ "^^^^^f^' 














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■^ 



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THE NEW HAMPSHIRE COVENANT OF 7777. 



our Sister Colonies, We agree to break off all 
Trade and Commerce, with all Persons, who 
prefering their private Interest to the Salvation 
of their now almost perishing Countrj', who 
shall still continue to import Goods from Great- 
Britain, or shall piirchase of those who import 
after the said last Day of August, until the 
aforesaid pretended Right of Taxing the Colo- 
nies shall be given up or dropped. 

3. As a Kefusal to come into any Agreement 
which promises Deliverance of our Country 
from the Calamities it now feels, and which, 
like a Torrent, are rushing upon it with in- 
creasing Violence, must, in our Opinion, evi- 
dence a Disposition enimical to, or criminally 
negligent of the common Safety : — It is agreed, 
that all such ought to be considered, and shall 
by us be esteemed, as Rncouragers of contuma- 
cious Importers. 

Lastly, We hereby further engage, that we 
will use every Method in our Power, to encour- 
age and promote the Production of Manufac- 
tures among ourselves, that this Covenant and 
Engagement may be as little detrimental to 
ourselves ajid Fellow Countrymen as possible. 



Philip Eastman 
Peter Green, Jr. 
ReubeTi .'\bbott 
Jabez Abbot 
John Chase 
Benjamin Sweat 
Ephraim Farnum,Junr. 
Benjamin Fifield 
Henry Lovjoy 
Jacob Shute 
Edward Abbott 
George Abbott 
Jesse Abbot 
Jeremiah Wheeler 
Joshua Abbot 
Ezekiel Dimond 
Isak Kimball 
Ezra Carter 
Abiel Chandler 
John Blanchard 
Caleb Buswell 
Peter Chandler 
Abiel I'>lanchard 
Jonathan Bradlej' 
Nathl. Rolfe 
Timothy Bradley 
Cornelius Johnson 
Daniel Gale 
Thos. Stickney 
Daniel Abbot 
Nathl. West 
Daniel Carter 
Amos Abbot 
Daniel Hall 
Levi Ross 
Henry Berk 
Nathl. Abbott 



INIoses Abbott 
Reuben Kimball 
Lemuel Tucker 
Nathan Abbot 
Chandler Lovejo3' 
William Coffin 
Jona. Walker 
John Farnum 
David Young 
Stephen Kimball 
Ebenr. West 
Moses Eastman, jun. 
Hannah Osgood 
Tinio. Walker 
Richard Hastine 
Tinio. Walker, Jr. 
John Kimball 
Benja. Emerj- 
Aaron Stevens. 
Joseph Hall, Jnr. 
Philip Carigain 
Jonathan Stickney 
David Hall 
Stephen Abbot 
Benjamin F^arnum 
Nathl. Clement 
lames Walker 
Joseph Farnum 
Jonathan Eliot 
Jacob Carter 
ICnocli Coffin 
Hezekiah l''ello\vs 
Abner F'landers 
I^benezer Virgin 
vSolonion Gage 
Jacob Dimond 



For further responses, one must re- 
vert to the environment of this im- 
portant paper, and the condition of 
public affairs in the American colo- 
nies at that time. Soon after the 
Treaty of Paris (1763), whereby 
France relinquished all rule in North 
America, the selfishness of the gov- 
ernmental policy of England with 
respect to her American colonies be- 
came more and more pronounced. It 
was manifest that she meant to hold 
them not onl}' as an enlargement of 
her domain, enhancing her conse- 
quence as a nation, but as contribu- 
tors to her material welfare, by afford- 
ing places to her needj^ dependents, 
markets for her manufactures and 
merchandise, freights for her vessels, 
and aids to her exchequer, by an ar- 
bitrary taxation of their people with- 
out their consent. 

This policy was made notably pat- 
ent as early as March 22, 1765, by 
the enactment of the Stamp Act, 
which embodied the principle of her 
right to tax the people of her colo- 
nies while denying them representa- 
tion in the body by which it was 
done. 

This act, however, proved prema- 
ture and excited such widespread 
dissatisfaction and opposition to its 
enforcement that it was repealed at 
the end of four months and a half 
after it had taken effect (March 18, 
1766), much to the disgust of the 
king and of his advisers. Yet, while 
its repeal caused great joy throughout 
the colonies, it did not change his 
purpose. He simply acquiesced and 
waited ; but briefly for, the very 
next year, he converted to exasper- 
ation the good feeling thus produced 
by .securing the enactment of a law 
for levying import duties on tea, glass. 



THE NEW HAMPSHIRE COVENANT OF 7777. 



paper, and painters' colors brought 
to American ports. 

But, so general and intense was the 
dissatisfaction caused by this law 
also, that the dut}' was soon removed 
from all of these articles except tea. 
This was retained, accompanied by 
an assertion, as unwise as vain, that 
" England had the right to bind her 
colonies in all cases whatsoever." 
The king could not realize that his 
American colonists were contending 
for a principle, and not for the avoid- 
ance of the payment of a petty three 
pence on a pound of tea. 

Thus modified, the obnoxious law 
still failed to effect the object which 
it was intended to secure. Ere long, 
the discontent, whose intensity had 
been increasing for half a dozen years, 
culminated on the sixteenth daj^ of 
December, 1773, in the pouring into 
the waters of Boston harbor a whole 
cargo of tea which had been sent to 
that port for sale. Kindred action 
followed in other towns, and only 
fifteen days later, the people of 
Charlestown, gathering their little 
supplies of this article, bore them to 
the public square and there consigned 
them to the flames of a patriotic bon- 
fire, amid great rejoicings beneath 
which stern ideas were silently tak- 
ing form in thoughtful minds. ^ In 
other places, non-consumption agree- 
ments were formed, as in Portsmouth, 
where the women bound themselves 
to discontinue its use so long as the 
objectionable act remained in force. " 

While this destruction of tea in 
Boston was hailed with great satisfac- 
tion in all the colonies, it aroused the 
iie of the king, who at once con- 
cluded that no vacillating course 



should be hereafter pursued, and that 
the little capital of Massachusetts 
should soon feel the weight of his 
right arm in vengeance. 

In accordance with this purpose, 
on the thirty-first day of March, 1774, 
the act popularly known as the Bos- 
ton Port Bill received the royal ap- 
proval, and a few weeks later, in 
April, three others, known as the 
Regulation Acts, were enacted. 

The Port Bill took effect on the 
first day of the following June, caus- 
ing the harbor of Boston to be block- 
aded and all pa.ssing between the 
islands therein and Charlestown to be 
suspended. As a consequence, busi- 
ness came to a sudden standstill. 
Stores and warehou.ses were closed 
and the employment of hundreds of 
its people, who lived by the work of 
their hands, ceased. Salem was made 
the colonial capital, and Marblehead 
became a port of entry. 

Two months later the Regulation 
Acts, just mentioned, went into effect, 
"sweeping away the long cherished 
charter of Massachusetts and precip- 
itating the irreversible choice between 
submission and resistance." '' 

The first of these provided " In to- 
tal violation of the charter [of Massa- 
chusetts] that the counsellors, who 
had been chosen hitherto by the leg- 
islature, should be appointed by the 
king, and hold at his pleasure. The 
superior judges were to hold at the 
will of the king, and be dependent 
upon him for their salaries ; and the 
inferior judges were to be removable 
at the discretion of the royal gover- 
nor. The sheriffs were to be ap- 
pointed and removed by the execu- 
tive ; and the juries were to be se- 



^Hist. Charlestown, p. 293. 
Atinals- of Portsmouth, p. 244. 



2 Windsor's Jleni. Hist. Boston, Vol. 3, p. 



THE NEW HAMPSHIRE COVENANT OE 1774. 



lected by the dependent sheriffs. 
Town meetings were to be abolished, 
except for the election of officers or 
by the special permission of the gov- 
ernor. This bill was passed by a 
vote of more than three to one." 

The second provided that " Magis- 
trates, revenue officers and soldiers, 
charged with capital offenses, could 
be tried in England or Nova Scotia. 
This bill passed by a vote of more 
than four to one." ^ 

The third made provision for the 
quartering of British troops upon the 
towns. 

But all these vindictive laws failed 
to accomplish their expected pur- 
poses. Particularly applicable is this 
remark to the Boston Port Bill, the 
effect of which was twofold. While 
it caused great distress to large num- 
bers of the inhabitants of Boston, it 
ahso created stern indignation in all 
the colonies, frightened few persons, 
and created a universal sympathy for 
those distressed thereby, which at 
once manifested itself by liberal con- 
tributions to the people of the be- 
leaguered town, which largely pre- 
vented the sufferings it was intended 
to produce. 

The correspondence accompanying 
the transportation and receipt of these 
contributions from June 28, 1774, to 
September 9, 1775, has been pub- 
lished by the Massachusetts Histori- 
cal society, and covers two hundred 
and sevent3'-eight pages of the fourth 
volume of the fourth series of its Col- 
lections. There was then little money 
in America, and the contributions were 
mostly of provisions. These came 
from some one hundred and fifty dif- 
ferent places. As in.stances of these, 
there were sent : 

1 Windsor's Mem. Hist. Boston, Vol. 3, p. 53. 



June 28, 1774, from Windliani, Conn., a small 
flock of sheep. 

June 28, 1774, from Groton, 40 bushels of rye 
and Indian corn. 

July, 1774, from Cape Fear, North Carolina, a 
sloop load of provisions. 

Aug. 4, 1774, from Baltimore, IMaryland, 3,000 
bushels of Indian corn, 20 barrels of rj^e flour, 
2 barrels of pork and 20 barrels of bread, 

Aug. 30, 1774, from Northampton, Virginia, 
i.ooo bushels of Indian corn. 

Sept. 22, 1774, from Old York, a quantity of 
wood, sheep and potatoes. 

Nov. 25, 1774, from Philadelphia, Penn., 5 
tons of rod iron^ 400 barrels of flour and 200 bar- 
rels of ship stuff. 

Dec. 7, 1774, from New York, N. Y., 180 bar- 
rels of flour, g barrels of pork and 12 firkins of 
butter. 

Dec. 15, 1774, from Middlesex county, New 
Jersey, 2 barrels of rye flour, 8 barrels of wheat 
flour, 2 barrels of pork, 14 bu:-hels of Indian 
corn and 471 bixshels of rye. 

March 15, 1775, from Montreal, Canada, 
£ 100-4 sh. 

Aug. 3, 1S74, from South Carolina, 100 casks 
of rice. 

Nine New Hampshire towns sent 
similar gifts." The following corre- 
spondence attended the sending and 
receipt of a part of that of Concord : 



Sir 



Province of New Hampshire. 
Concord, Oct. 29th, 1774. 



The people of this Town have subscribed a 
considerable quantity of pease, for our suffer- 
ing brethren in the Town of Boston, part of 
which I now send j-ou by the bearer ; the re- 
mainder I shall forward as soon as possible. 
You will excuse my giving you this trouble, 
not being particularly acquainted with any 
other Gentleman of the Committee. 

I remain your most obedient and very hum- 
ble servant, 

Timo. Walker, Jun. 
To Mr. Henry Hill. 

To this was returned the following 
respon.se : 

Boston, Nov. 11, 1774. 
Dear Sir. 

This morning Mr. Samuel Ames delivered 
your agreeable favor of the 2qth October, in- 
forming me that the people of the Town of 
Concord have generously subscribed a quantity 
of pease for their suffering brethren of this 

» These towns were Concord, Chester. Candia, 
Durham, Newmarket, Londonderry, Temple, Ports- 
mouth, and Hxeter. 



THE NEW HAMPSHIRE COVENANT OF 1774. 



Town, part of which j-ou have sent, and the re- 
ceipt of which I hereby acknowledge, and in 
behalf of the Town, desire you to accept our 
sincere thanks for this proof of your sympathy 
with us under our present trials, which, I as- 
sure you are very heavy, and under which we 
fear we should sink, were it not for the sup- 
port which, under Providence, we receive from 
our kind friends and brethren in this and the 
neighboring Colonies. 

I am, dear Sir, your obliged, humble servant, 

Henry Hill. 
To Mr. Timo Walker Jr. in Concord, Province 

of New Hampshire.' 

In this vain attempt at intimida- 
tion, when conciliation was so greatly 
needed, King George III made the 
greatest mistake of his life. He took 
a fatal step which he could not re- 
trace and began a contest sure to end 
by detaching from his kingdom all 
his American colonies from the St. 
Croix to Florida, and to giv^e birth to 
a new nation destined, in a single 
century, to rival England in wealth 
and power, and, ere the close of a 
second, to surpass it in both. 

While the sufferings caused by the 
Port Bill were restricted to the inhab- 
itants of Boston, the bill was regarded 
as a menace to all other colonial sea- 
ports, which might incur the royal 
displeasure, and as an assurance that 
His Majesty was ready to use so much 
of the military and naval power of his 
kingdom as might be found nece.ssar\^ 
to enforce his arbitrary demands. 

To the people of the colonies, who 
loved their fatherland and wanted 
peace and the development of their 
adopted country, this was a very un- 
welcome conclusion. They therefore 
sought some peaceable means by 
which their disagreements with their 
home government might l)e removed 
and a rupture of the bon.d which ha^ 
long bound them to their mother 
country be avoided. In addition to the 

1 Mass. Hist. Collections, Series 4, Vol. .(, p. 429. 



letters, petitions, and remonstrances 
before used, there was stiggested : 

1. The cultivation of a better ac- 
quaintance of the people of the differ- 
ent colonies with one another, and a 
common agreement as to their gen- 
eral interests. The attainment of 
these ends was sought through colo- 
nial, count}^ and town Committees of 
Correspondence, by which the opin- ■ 
ions and wants of each section of 
country might be made known to the 
others. To Dr. Jonathan Mayhew 
and to Samuel Adams, both of Bos- 
ton, the invention of this agenc}'^ was 
largely due. It was a peaceable one, 
and the information gathered thereby 
might have been of much service to 
the king had he chosen to avail him- 
self of it. But he did not. Such a 
committee was appointed by the As- 
sembly of New Hamp.shire, on the 
28th day of May, 1774, to the disgust 
of the governor, who thereupon dis- 
solved that body, hoping by so doing, 
it has been said, to dissolve also the 
committee. 

2. Another agency suggested was 
that of popular provincial congresses, 
in which all the towns of a colony 
should be represented. Five such 
were as.sembled in New Hampshire 
between the 21st day of July, 1774, 
and the 21st day of December, 1775, 
inclusive; the last of which, on the 
5th day of the following January, 
assumed the powers of a state govern- 
ment and became its first legislature. 

3. Still another, similar to the non- 
importation agreements before men- 
tioned, was the formation of solemn 
leagues and covenants, whose mem- 
bers shotild mutually bind themselves 
to neither import nor consume British 
goods tintil the grievances complained 
of were removed. In his Memorial 



lO 



THE NEW HAMPSHIRE COVENANT OF 1774. 



History of Boston, Mr. Windsor says 
that soon after the Port Bill took ef- 
fect, " 'A solemn league and cove- 
nant' to suspend all commercial in- 
tercourse with England, and forego 
the use of all British merchandise, 
was forwarded to every town in the 
province ; and the names of those 
who refused to sign it were to be 
published."^ Of this Prof. J. K. 
Hosraer also says, "The Solemn 
League and Covenant spread through- 
out New England, and into the colo- 
nies in general, being a most formid- 
able non-importation agreement which 
the royal governors denounced in 
vain." - 

Not long after this, at some time 
between July and September, a simi- 
lar "covenant" was prepared and 
copies of it dispatched, by the New 
Hampshire Committee of Correspond- 
ence, to tlie towns of that province. 
To what number these were signed, 
or how many have been preserved, 
does not appear. A pretty diligent 
search has resulted in allusions only 
to such agreements. So far as the 
writer knows, the Concord covenant 
is the only one which has been pre- 
served to this da5^ 

On the seventeenth of June, 1774, 
the Asseml)ly of Massachusetts sug- 
gested the organization of a continen- 
tal congress, to consider the condi- 
tion and wants of the several colonies 
and devise measures of gener.il inter- 
est to all. This suggesiion was favor- 
ably received, the different colonies 
chose delegates to attend it, and the 
first day of Septemljer was appointed 
as the day of its assembling, in Phila- 
delphia. To it the ])eople looked for- 
ward, and awaited its ativice. 

> Windsor's Mem. Hist. Boston, Vol. 3, p. 55. 
' Hosmer's Life of S. Adams, pp. 298--300. 



An example of such awaiting is 
furnished by the action of the town 
of Keene,'^ to which the New Hamp- 
shire Committee of Correspondence 
had sent for execution a copy of this 
covenant. At a town-meeting, holden 
there on the twenty- sixth day of Sep- 
tember, " To see if it be the mind of 
the town to sign the covenant and 
engagement, which was sent and rec- 
ommended by the committee of corre- 
.spondence, relating to the non impor- 
tation agreement," the following pre- 
amble and vote was adopted : 

Whereas the towns in this province, have 
chosen members^ to represent them in a Gen- 
eral Congress of all the colonies, now sitting at 
the city of Philadelphia, to consult and deter- 
mine what steps are necessary for the colonies 
to adopt, voted, therefore, not to sign the non 
importation agreement until we hear what 
measures said congress have agreed upon for 
themselves and their constituents. 

That this opinion prevailed in many 
of the other towns there is reason to 
believe, and the conclusion is a plaus- 
ible one that, the New Hampshire 
Solemn Eeague and Covenant was 
superseded by the broader intercolo- 
nial "Association" adopted by the 
members of the continental con- 
gress on the 2 1 St of October, and by 
them personally executed for them- 
selves and their constituents.^ 

3 N. H. Hist. See. Col., Vol. 2. p. no. 

* The New Hampshire delegates chosen July 14, 
1774, were Nathaniel Fol.'-om and John Sullivan. 

•'■' On the 27th of December, 1774. Amherst chose a 
committee "to cany iulo effect the .'Association 
agreement." (Hist, of Amherst, p. 366.) On the 
15th of January, 1775, Bedfoid " Voted to adopt the 
measures of the Continental Congress." (Hist, of 
Bedford, p. 123.) February 23, 1775, Fitzwilliam 
•Voted to abide by the proceedings of the Conti- 
nental Congress." (Hist, of Fitzwilliam, p. 217.) 
May 18. 1774, Hollis " Voted to enforce a strict ad- 
herence to the Association .^Agreement of the Con- 
tinental Congress. (Hist, of Hollis, p. 144.) Mr. 
Claude Halstead Van Tyne says, "In October of 
1774, the First Continental Congress determined 
upon an association as a 'si^eedy, effectual and 
peaceable measure,' for obtaining a redress of 
their grievances. 'I'he Solemn League and Cove- 
nant, which originated in Boston, died in anticipa- 
tion of this measure, because intercolonial associ- 
ation would be more effective." (The Loyalists in 
America, p. 69.) 



THE NFAV HAMPSHIRE COVENANT OF T774. 



II 



The preamble of this was iu part 
as follows : 

We, his Majesty's most loyal subjects, the 
Delegates of the several Colonies of New Hamp- 
shire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island. Con- 
necticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
the three Lower Counties of New Castle, Kent 
and Sussex on Delaware, Marj-land, Virginia, 
North Carolina and South Carolina, deputed 
to represent them in a Continental Congress, 
held in the city of Philadelphia, on the fifth 
day of September, 1774, avowing our allegiance 
to His Majesty ; our affection and regard for 
our fellow-subjects in Great Britain and else- 
where ; affected with the deepest anxiety and 
most alarming apprehensions at those griev- 
ances and distresses with which his Majesty's 
American subjects are oppressed ; and having 
taken under our most serious deliberation the 
state of the whole continent, find that the pres- 
ent unhapp3^ situation of our affairs is occa- 
sioned by a ruinous system of Colonj- Adminis- 
tration adopted by the British Ministr3- about 
the year 1763, evidently calculated for enslav- 
ing these Colonies, and, with them the British 
Empire. 

***** 

To obtain redress of these grievances, which 
threaten destruction to the Lives, Libertj' and 
Property of His Majesty's subjects in North 
America, we are of opinion that a Non-Impor- 
tation, Non-Consumption and Non-Exportation 
Agreement, faithfully adhered to, will prove 
the most speedy, effectual and peaceable meas- 
ure ; and, therefore, we do, for ourselves and 
the inhabitants of the several Colonies whom 
we represent, firmly agree and associate, under 
the sacred ties of Virtue, Honour and the love 
of our Country as follows : 

Next followed the articles of asso- 
ciation, which, with the signatures of 
the delegates from all the colonies 
W'ith the exception of Georgia, occupy 
nearly five closely-printed pages of 
the first volume of the Congress Jour- 
nal. 

To this Association, as before stated, 
the Concord Covenant of 1774 un- 
doubtedly gave way. A critical exam- 
ination of the seventy-three signatures 
attached thereto affords evidence that 
the subscribers were plain persons, 
intelligent, cognizant of their rights 
and possessed of courage to maintain 



them. Indeed, the very next April 
a goodl}^ number of them, having ex- 
changed their pens for their muskets, 
hurried to Cambridge to report two 
months later at Bunker Hill. 

Thus far, all the measures adopted 
by the American colonists for the 
redress of their grievances had been 
peaceable ones. By such t\\ey hoped 
to adjust the differences between 
them and their mother country, but 
the king insisted upon the stern arbit- 
rament of war. By the judgment 
of this tribunal the colonies were 
awarded political freedom and nation- 
ality. 

If to any it seem strange that our 
fathers should have striven as long 
as they did to obtain a redress of 
their grievances by the peaceable 
means of remonstrances, petitions, 
and non-importation agreements, it 
should be remembered that England 
was their mother country and the 
most powerful nation in the w^orld ; 
wdiile the American colonies, consist- 
ing of but a thin line of thirteen small 
states, strung along the Atlantic coast 
from New Hampshire to Georgia, 
like beads on a cord, were but 
slightly bound to each other by 
acquaintance or material interests ; 
were sparsely settled and possessed 
of an aggregate population of only 
three million people, half of whom 
were Tories. 

The surprising thing is, not that 
they should have been slow in taking 
up arms against their oppressor ; but 
that they should have done so at all. 
And, indeed, not very late were they 
in coming to a realization of the fact 
that the strength of a small people, 
with God and right on their side, 
cannot be measured by numbers. 

The Concord subscribers to this 



THE NEW HAMPSHIRE COVENANT OF lyy^. 



Solemn League and Covenant have 
been in their graves well on towards 
an hundred j^ears. It is trusted that 
their patriotic spirits have not been 
"disquieted," as was that of Israel's 
dead prophet, by this "bringing 
them up" to testify of the valor and 



sacrifices which they consecrated to 
the achievement of American inde- 
pendence. Fit will it be for the 
millions, now enjoying this inestima- 
ble blessing, to "solemnly covenant" 
to transmit it unimpaired to their 
posterity. 




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